DISCLAIMER: The details provided in this article is meant for information / research purposes ONLY and should not be interpreted as advice to break local and international laws. Tape News will not be responsible for the actions of admins, vendors, buyers and any other online user.
Escrow, Multisig and Finalize early are the currently available payment options across various dark web marketplaces. By now, you should have learnt already about how to use darknet markets before getting to the point of having to choose the method that you’ll need to pay vendors.
Considering that dark web transactions are always happening between strangers on the internet, it goes without saying that dealing with strangers online demands that you take extra care lest you get scammed – this happens a lot in dark web marketplaces.
Escrow
The Escrow method is currently an industry standard on darknet markets that involve a trusted third party (usually the platform’s admin) to serve as an arbitrator between a buyer and seller whenever a disagreement arises.
The majority of dark web sites employ a central escrow service, which has a third party taking control of the crypto that you are paying with until you hit the finalize button to signal that you have received the goods you ordered.
In case the product you ordered does not making it to your destination, you will then get in touch with the escrow provider to request for a refund. This method goes a long way to prevent the possibility of vendors scamming people at the point of good delivery, although it introduces the new problem of the escrow agent disappearing with user funds – be sure to use only the recommended escrow sites to prevent the possibility of losing your funds in this manner.
Finalize Early
Otherwise, some dark web marketplaces allow vendors with a very good reputation to require their buyers to Finalize Early. This method eliminates escrow protection.
As a dark market user, choosing to Finalize Early will mean that you will give all your money directly to the vendor that you are transacting with. The vendor will get money as soon as you make the order – the analogy of giving a street dealer your money and letting them go round the street to get your product.
Quite obviously, this is very risky considering how easy it is to get scammed by a vendor that will choose to take advantage of the trust that you have accorded him. A vendor who has not built a credible image on a dark web market will most likely scam you because they will have little to lose once you expose.
Also, if you own a buyer account that has not registered a considerable number of successful orders or a reputable history, unscrupulous vendors will be happy to scam you.
Considering the fact that your account will not have gained enough credibility on the platform, you will easily lose your money because not one will believe you once you make a report that you were scammed by a vendor through Finalize Early.
Multisig
The safest alternative to all the above is Multisig that demands some technical skills and knowledge to set up. It is also noteworthy that not all marketplaces are currently supporting this payment option although it protects buyers against any risk that an escrow provider will steal your crypto.
There’s a number of factors that make Multisig outcompete regular Escrow services. They include:
- Multisig prevents a scenario where markets and vendors exit scam buyers. This is a critical selling point considering how common exit scams on the dark web have become. With escrow, the market operators can decide to disappear with user funds without a trace.
- In cases where a dark web marketplace goes offline for whatever reason, be it an exit scam, law enforcement operation or a devastating Distributed Denial-Of-Service (DDoS) attack, the funds held in Multisig will not be lost forever, stolen or confiscated by the police. As such, their owners may still be able to access if the buyer and vendor decide to contact each other and work together to redeem the funds – this will happen if they had already saved data about their transaction.
- Multisig ensures that user funds remain protected is a threat actor succeeds to breach a dark web marketplace. In the case of basic escrow, an experience hacker will be able to steal user coins.
